How Student Learning Is Influenced by Language, Culture, Gender, Health, and Community - Essay Example

Language plays a vital role in the learning process of the child (Harmon & Jones, 2005). A fourth-grader, for instance, learns to value the importance of words through his teacher’s well-thought word choice. Responding to the child’s “transgression,” the teacher spoke to him with these words: “By the gods, thou art a scurvy knave. Verily I shall bonce thee on thine evil sconce” (Johnson, 2004). Formerly a mischievous child, he eventually learns that language has the subtlety to “change behavior without force.” Thus, language in its implicit nature has the potential to transform, in a positive manner, a child’s mental attitude towards learning in general.

Second, culture is a unique characteristic inherent in a particular ethnic group. Farenga and Ness (2005) note that several ethnic groups do not believe in the importance of education; in essence, students who belong to such ethnicity developed in themselves, consciously or unconsciously, the attitude of indifference towards learning in the formal setting. In the process, the teacher’s job of inculcating the value of education into the minds of these learners is remarkably great. Nevertheless, Farenga and Ness (2005) encourage teachers to provide a kind of pedagogy that “value[s] ethnic diversity.” They say that teachers have to know accurately -- and “accommodate” within the classroom environment -- the ethnic background and foreground of their learners. However, the paradox here is apparently the contrast between the ethnic group’s sheer disregard for education and the teacher’s task to respect diversity.

Third, Sadker, Sadker, and Klein heavily inform the teachers to be sensitive to their students’ gender orientation (as cited in Farenga & Ness, 2005); failure to address gender bias within the classroom setting inevitably “hinder[s] girls’ achievement” in their middle and high school years. In practice, teachers give full attention to boys when delivering their lectures. As a consequence, the greater chance to succeed in one’s educational goal substantially belongs to the male gender. Farenga and Ness (2005) remark that several teachers are strikingly biased in giving their attention towards this gender especially in the fields of mathematics and science. Perhaps the reason behind this gender bias in relation to these two subjects is due mainly to the “scientific” viewpoint that men are quantitatively superior to women. Needless to say, this does not justify the practice of gender insensitivity.

Fourth, physical diversity also impacts the learning process of the child (Farenga & Ness, 2005). The physical or medical problem of the child affects his or her performance at school. The low self-esteem and similar inferiority complex, which are triggered by his or her physical handicap, deeply impact the child’s model of focusing on the classroom discussion. Evidently, the role of the teacher is essential for this child to rise beyond his or her physical disability.

 The fifth, community largely contributes to the intellectual and emotional development of the child. Vygotsky’s “artifacts,” for example, suggest that the child’s social milieu generally defines his or her character and values. Accordingly, learning is inherently social or environmental through the application of, in Vygotsky’s terms, social tools (Nieto, 2009). Vygotsky’s artifacts are many and varied of which an example is a language. Like culture, language is transmitted from generation to generation. In essence, the child does not only inherit his or her parents’ genetic make-up, he or she also inherits the language, culture, and tradition prominent in the family or ethnic background. As a whole, the community -- through the child’s parents -- vitally helps “improve [the child’s] achievement” (Farenga & Ness, 2005).

          The five key elements that affect the child’s learning process are fundamentally related. In general, it is the community that greatly influences the child’s interest to study and learn in formal education. Community generally includes the learner’s family and teacher. Within the family, the child receives and instills its primary language, culture, and even perceptions toward gender orientation and physical handicap. Within the teacher’s domain, the learner receives and inculcates the ideas and knowledge about the world and his or her self, which are basically components or integral parts of language and culture.